Watch CBS Evening News this Monday!

Thank you, Fred, for leaving the following comment on Thursday's post! It is a pleasure to "meet" you and I hope CBS does a fair job telling your story. ... Here is Fred's comment:

Best of luck to both of us!

Two weeks ago my wife MyLinda and I were interviewed by CBS Evening News for a story about the upcoming trial in Vaccine Court, Our son, Jordan is the first named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit as a result of his reaction to thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that is still used in vaccines. There are about 4,900 children in the class who believe that their children developed autism as a result of exposure to mercury in vaccines.

I am writing to let you know that CBS Evening News will be broadcasting the story on Monday, May 12 at 6:30. Our family and other Oregon families were interviewed for this story and we think that part of that interview will be included.

There is more information about it at these links:

http://kimstagliano.blogspot.com/2008/03/medical-mistakes-throughout-ages-thank.html
http://home.teleport.com/~marimba/still.htm
http://safeminds.org/

Apologies for any unwanted junk mail and double postings!

The document you should read

David Kirby, the journalist/author who writes regularly about the vaccine-autism story and wrote Evidence of Harm, posted the court document I assume is Hannah Poling's concession from the government (David removed the names of the family). As he suggests, perhaps every American should just read this for themselves and interpret it with their own thinking skills.

The government wants you to forget about Hannah Poling, and the nearly 5,000 other families waiting their turn in "vaccine court" with autism cases. They are hoping this will all blow over. Let's not let that happen again. This has been going on far too long.

Albeit, not every child getting vaccinated becomes autistic, but that's no reason not to make concentrated efforts to protect all children. As David says, "When a kid with peanut allergy eats a peanut and dies, we don't say 'his underlying metabolic condition was significantly aggravated to the extent of manifesting as an anaphylactic shock with features of death.' No, we say the peanut killed the poor boy. Remove the peanut from the equation, and he would still be with us today."

My question is, what are the CDC, the FDA and the AAP going to do about this? The answer is, nothing, unless the grass roots get organized and call (repeatedly and loudly) for real change. I am still not sure how we do that, but I hope to learn more and post it here. For now, there is a big rally being organized for June 4th in D.C., led by Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey and autism parents. From there, I hope this movement picks up steam and does not go away.

Working on the political side of things....

I've added some things to the sidebar over there ... if you hadn't noticed. These items are for those who are interested in knowing what's going on in Congress and other branches of the government, and how we grass roots folks can voice our concerns.

Let me be clear and honest about a few things here. After only two months of researching vaccines for myself, I have grave, grave concerns about the hazards that we, as parents, are subjecting our children to unwittingly. I am FOR informed consent on vaccination. This means I believe the public deserves FULL DISCLOSURE on ALL vaccine risks, the true numbers of people affected by those complications, and the true likelihood of our children having serious problems from the very diseases we are vaccinating against -- before we vaccinate. (I believe many or most diseases are blown out of proportion, now that I've spent some time looking at them.)

I am FOR full studies on the health problems of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated populations. I believe many vaccines have created health problems in our nation's children. We deserve to know. Now.

I am not against vaccination, as long as it is safe. I'm just concerned that it's not. And people are making money off drugs that are hurting our babies. It's just wrong.

Again, every parent needs to decide for him/herself what is best for their children. I still have not decided which vaccines I will allow my children and which I will not (except for Hepatitis B, as I wrote earlier. And though I haven't "officially" decided, the MMR is one heck of a scary vaccine to me). Even if everyone found the same information as me, they may not make the same decisions as me. I respect that completely!

More later. Gotta race to get ready for the day before the baby wakes.

One more thing - I found out that the child whose case jump-started my vaccine research (a local family) was injured by the MMR. Her father makes a point of gently telling new parents her story, because he hopes some will listen and do their homework. I did. I hope my blog encourages others to do theirs as well.

Examining the CDC's "spin" on measles

Thanks to Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center for a helpful article on recent news about measles. Read it here.

When I wrote about measles the other day, I didn't even think until afterwards, "How can the CDC and media say that all those measles cases were because of people not vaccinating?" I had not had a chance to look into it, but Barbara's article is insightful:

Only one fifth (14) of the cases were American children whose parents claimed a religious or personal belief exemption. This fact didn't stop CDC officials from trying to blame the measles "outbreaks" on the exemption-takers by stating "These cases and outbreaks resulted primarily from failure to vaccinate, many because of religious or personal belief exemption."

So what motives does the CDC have? Are they gearing up for putting an additional MMR shot on the pediatric schedule, as Barbara suggests? Are they stirring up fear of disease to encourage society to look down on those who don't vaccinate? Are they trying to prove (by lying about the facts) the validity of vaccine programs and hush all questions about vaccine safety, especially in light of Hannah Poling's case? Your guess is as good as mine. But the CDC's jab at non-vaccinators seems to me a calculated PR tactic in making excuses for an unproven vaccination program that is under increasing public scrutiny.

Fainting spells in adolescents

At least 463 people fainted after getting vaccinated during an 18-month period from 2005 to 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

... some of the patients hit their heads on the floor and at least one had a car accident, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

One 15-year-old boy died after hitting his head.

Full story on Reuters. May 2, 2008 MMWR here (the CDC document that reports this - Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.) Fainting is known clinically as "syncope."

Excerpt from MMWR: "During 2005--2007, ACIP decided to add several newly licensed adolescent vaccines to the routine immunization schedule and the Vaccines for Children Program. After these vaccines were licensed and recommended for use, the number of postvaccination syncope reports to VAERS increased, primarily among females aged 11--18 years."

Thanks to one of my commentors for this story.

[This entry edited on 5/6/08]

"No reason not to; it's a crime not to."

"And it does not cause autism."

This is today's FOX video report on the measles outbreak. The words of Dr. Steven Garner of New York Methodist Hospital and Shepard Smith of FOX News. It's a "crime" not to get your child vaccinated against measles. We can only guess this doctor means a "moral crime." And we can guess that Shepard is very busy and doesn't have time to read about regressive autism.

I understand that health officials want to eliminate the spread of disease - I really do. I don't think it's a small matter that people are getting sick. Please hear me; I just think that every parent needs to be able to make an informed decision about what is best for their child. It's not just religious beliefs that keep people from vaccinating, and it's not just autism scares.

Here are some of the complications that have been shown to be associated with measles vaccine, taken from the 55th edition of the Physician's Desk Reference, a standard in medical reference:

• encephalitis
• subacute sclerosing panencephalitis
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• febrile and afebrile convulsions
• seizures
• ataxia
• ocular palsies
• anaphylaxis
• angioneurotic edema
• bronchial spasms
• panniculitis
• vasculitis
• atypical measles
• thrombocytopenia
• lymphadenopathy
• leukocytosis
• pneumonitis
• Stevens-Johnson syndrome
• erythema multiforme
• uticaria
• deafness
• otitis media
• retinitis
• optic neuritis
• rash
• fever
• dizziness
• headache
• death

The vaccine manufacturer has not evaluated the vaccine for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential nor is it known whether it can harm a fetus when administered to a pregnant woman.

How often do these adverse events happen? Well, the CDC doesn't really know. But you're just supposed to trust them. Believe them, it's rare.

Just out of curiosity, I went to the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) site to see how many adverse events have been reported so far this year. These are for all vaccines, not just MMR vaccine. Now remember, the FDA and CDC don't put much stock in these numbers. (Until it comes to telling you reactions are rare.)

There have been 70 cases of measles as of today.

As of today, there have been 3,787 adverse events associated with vaccination reported to VAERS.

Let's just give the CDC some slack and say that perhaps some events were reported more than once, or weren't really associated with the vaccine, and let's cut that number by a third. That still leaves 1,262 adverse events ranging from fever, dizziness, going limp and staring, joint pain, aseptic meningitis, to babies stopping breathing, to "sudden death." I don't really have the time to read 3,787 lines in detail, but that's just a sample. Most of what I read happened right after or within a few hours of vaccination.

What's more likely is that 3,787 is just the tip of the iceberg. CDC and FDA officials have both said that there is underreporting to VAERS, not overreporting.

As parents find out more about the true risks of vaccination and hesitate to do it, the CDC and the drug companies are going to be pushing harder and harder for tougher mandates. I can see it coming. I plan on urging my lawmakers to protect my medical rights. To force parents to inoculate their children with substances proven to be harmful in some cases -- that is the true crime. I pray it doesn't come to that.

"Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice."
- Proverbs 29:26

Measles outbreaks in U.S.

A friend sent me an article from FOX News.com about measles outbreaks occurring in several states. So far, CDC reports 64 cases in nine states. An additional eight occurred in WA last week. They say 63 of those folks were either not vaccinated or it was unknown if they were. Fourteen people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have occurred.

I found this document which explains measles at length. Certainly some information to consider. (Click here to read an earlier post I wrote on measles.)

When I read about the complications of measles, for me, I always want to compare it to the risks of the vaccine. Again, the CDC says the risks are minimal. But the CDC has NO RELIABLE SYSTEM for monitoring risks. They say right up front that their adverse reaction data is unable to prove causality or provide accurate numbers (click here to read their full-page disclosure on the unreliability of VAERS). So do we really know if risks are rare?

And why isn't the CDC as vigilant with their vaccine adverse reaction data collection as they are with their disease outbreak data collection? They're our experts, yet they can't figure this out? Or they just won't?

So we have about 70 cases of measles in 2008 all over the U.S. Seventy out of 300 million U.S. citizens, in four months. Every time you read an article about disease/vaccines these days, the author points out that people must be scared to vaccinate because they think vaccines cause autism. (Understandably, parents are concerned for their children.) They then always have to point out that "no studies" have proven vaccines to be linked to autism. But let's recall that Julie Gerberding (head of CDC) herself said on CNN that vaccines CAN trigger autism in the presence of mitochondrial disorders.

Either they do, or they don't. The CDC needs to figure it out. (If they don't know already - many in the autism circles believe they've known for over a decade. Do a little reading and you learn about SV-40, a cancer-causing virus that government officials knew was in polio vaccines back in the 60s, yet they kept using them. That virus is still showing up in tumors and human tissues today. Is this a system we can trust?)

But vaccines are a sacred cow in this country. Question them and you will see. Want to see a doctor commit career suicide? Google "Andrew Wakefield" and you'll see what happened to the man who listened to parents when they said their child's MMR caused them to regress. What you find people are saying about him won't be pretty. Check out also the Autism Research Institute to see what research is still happening today.

By the way, it's not just about the autism. There are many other things to consider before vaccinating. Many, many ugly health problems have arisen from injecting little pieces of bacteria, viruses, animal and human tissues and preservatives into our bloodstreams. How could they not? Get yourself a good book on vaccine risks and benefits. I personally am reading Neil Miller's Vaccine Safety Manual right now and it is incredibly helpful and well-documented.

We need to educate ourselves, by being willing to consider what the medical journals and researchers not particularly "respected" by the CDC are finding. The CDC, in my opinion, has a vested interest in controlling the information we are allowed to hear in the media, because they need our trust more than anything. If we don't trust them, they can't do their jobs. They need us to believe them to continue waging their war on infectious disease. They need injured people to be swept under the rug. They need to cover up what is really going on.

Some may think people like me are making a mountain out of a mole hill. What is more likely is that the CDC is making a mole hill out of a mountain of evidence that vaccines are not as safe as they say.